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New management techniques & technology is changing
the face of pharmaceutical marketing beyond recognition. Branding,
core messaging and strategy, life cycle management, and where applicable,
liaising with co-promotional, co-marketing partners requires greater
strategic planning in an increasingly regulated environment.
CRM
Pharmaceuticals have an informed relationship with physicians,
but extending the same relationship to the large base of end consumers
is a huge challenge.
The HIPAA Standards for Privacy & Individually Identifiable
Health Information and Security Standards came into effect on April
14, 2003. This will necessitate revisiting the process of collecting,
using & sharing data for CRM purposes. Individually identifiable
patient information could be a greater worry to R&D than marketing,
but the possibility does exist. Relationships with physicians &
hospitals will come under the scanner. Although the debate continues
as to whether the pharmaceutical industry falls under HIPAA, complying
with privacy & security requirements of HIPAA would be a safe
bet.
e-Commerce
e-Pharmacies are both convenient & protect privacy. Their growth
has been explosive in the last few years & is expected to touch
$7300m by 2004. 65% patients using the services of e-Pharmacies
are from US. The FDA generally prohibits the importation of foreign-made
versions of prescription medications that are commercially available
in the US. This is because their manufacturing quality is suspect,
but with more & more companies around the world eyeing the US
market, FDA compliance among non-US pharmaceuticals is on the rise.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), in response
to public concern of the safety of pharmacy practices on the Internet,
developed the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS)
program in the spring of 1999. This provided the much required trust
for e-pharmacies
Advertisements
In 1997, US legislature opened the way for DTC advertising in broadcast
media (Europe & the rest of the world allow advertising only
in the professional media). A higher proportion of US pharmaceutical
companies' promotional expenditure is being allocated to DTC advertising.
Research by a J&J group company showed the increasing ROI on
DTC advertising.
The European Commission voted to reject a proposal for monitored
DTC communications in a first round vote by the European Parliament
in October 2002. The proposal which suggested that patients with
AIDS, asthma and diabetes should be allowed to obtain 'disease education'
information from drug manufacturers is likely to come up for reconsideration
again in 2004. There have been instances where advertisements appearing
in medical journals in Europe & targeted at doctors have been
found to make false claims. A study found that claims made in 44%
of the 102 ads examined were not backed up by evidence.
CBT & e-Learning
Astra South Africa implemented a 5 phased rep training programme
addressing
-Anatomy, physiology, pathology ,pharmacology using CBT
-Product based (own and competitors)
-Selling skills with a strong focus on micro marketing initiatives
-Commercial training, allowing the sales management team to manage
the growth in their respective areas.
-Differentiators (time management, presentation skills, NLP, social
styles)
The success of its CBT program catapulted Astra in SA from 36th
to 3rd largest in 3 years
Effective training is the only way to develop and sustain high
performance in a large sales force with a high turnover. Although
orientation training is common & to some extent effective, the
same cannot be said about ongoing training. Identifying strengths
& weaknesses & perfecting skills will require the use of
LMS.
e-Learning unfortunately has failed to live up to the hype. It
has not yet been able to deliver results to the extent it was projected
for the pharma industry. While it was initially thought that e-learning
would be an ideal solution for training reps because of their large
numbers, geographic spread & high turnovers, these very reasons
have worked against it. Lack of adaptation to new technology, change
management, e-learning policies & Internet connections have
contributed to its shunted growth. However companies that have implemented
e-learning even partially have reported amazing ROIs of 300-400%.
Information & Knowledge Management
A rep's knowledge about the product, side effects, use in patients
treated for multiple conditions, benefits to the doctor in terms
of time saving, etc. have become crucial in a marketplace saturated
with reps. Reps are a valuable source of information to physicians
about the thousands of drugs available in the market. Datamonitor,
a NY based market analysis company, in a report released on 2nd
May 2003, recommends that in order to overcome the declining return
on investment (ROI) from physician detailing, sales representatives
(reps) must increasingly be viewed as product educators, instead
of merely promotional agents. Reps are also experts in market driven
knowledge for their respective territories. In the knowledge economy,
reps are playing a role of sharing & acquiring knowledge.
The knowledge from the market should be institutionalized to convert
it into actionable knowledge. Elly Lilly produces a document called
the `global brand book' for each brand, where drugs are to follow
key process to standardize branding. It was launched for affiliates
in Eurpoe for local implementation of a consistent brand image,
with positive response.
Each of these factors has wide ranging implications in pharma marketing.
Early adoption of these factors & proper policy making are necessary
to boost the shrinking marketing ROIs in the pharma industry.
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